At least in theory, playing a nationally ranked conference rival on the road is supposed to be difficult. Apparently, someone forgot to tell the men's tennis team.
The No. 16 Blue Devils (8-8, 4-0 in the ACC) burned the No. 19 Demon Deacons (13-2, 3-1) 6-1, for their 45th-consecutive ACC regular-season victory. The win kept Duke's conference record perfect on the season and moved its overall record to .500.
"Our team played really well," Michael Yani said. "We were really fired up going into the match. Wake Forest is ranked about the same as we are, and it's a really big rivalry. We were definitely pumped up going in and we beat them pretty handily. Overall, we're pretty excited."
The Blue Devils scored the team victory in doubles as Alex Bose and Jason Zimmerman beat David Bere and Justin Kaufmann 9-7, and Yani and Philip King shelled David Loewenthal and Trent Brendon 8-1.
"We were kind of pissed off about our loss in doubles last week," Yani said. "We both played better. Sometimes they go like that--you get up a break or two and before you know it, it's over."
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Spice also claimed the Demon Deacons' only singles victory of the day. Last week, Spice shared ACC Player of the Week honors with Zimmerman. But when the two squared off, Spice emerged with the 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
"He was definitely a little disappointed that he lost," Yani said of Zimmerman. "It's kind of hard to play a match, especially a three-setter, when you know that the team has already won. That is not a good excuse, but Spice is a good player, and he played well against Zimmerman."
Duke fared better in the other singles matches. King had little trouble with Loewenthal, scoring an easy 6-1, 6-0 win. Spicher made sure Murray did not come away with the sweep for Wake Forest, beating him 6-3, 6-3, and Allen knocked off Brendon 6-2, 6-3.
Yani had a slightly more difficult time in singles play than he had in doubles competition. He beat Bere 6-4 in the first set, but dropped the second set 6-7 (5) before rallying to take the third set 6-1.
"I lost my concentration in the second set," Yani said. "We had won the match by that point. In the third set, I went out and played like I did in the first set. I won 6-1, so it obviously wasn't much of a problem."
In the final singles match, Peter Schults out-dueled Kaufmann in three sets, and the Blue Devils left with the convincing victory.
The win proves well-timed, as life does not get any easier for Duke in the immediate future. This weekend, the Blue Devils host the No. 11 Baylor Bears Saturday at 1 p.m. and the Miami Hurricanes Sunday at 1 p.m.
"We have Baylor coming in, and they're ranked 11th," Yani said. "We're going to have to get really fired up and play well against them if we're going to come out with the win."
The Bears arrive in Durham on the heels of a victory against Southern Methodist University that increased their winning streak to seven.
King will square off against Baylor's best player, Benjamin Becker.
"I played against Becker in the fall," Yani said. "He is a really solid player. But I don't think Philip will have too much of a problem with him."
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